-~-I
-"
'.
-"'
AMA Grand National Cross Country Series
"
Lcif..:f;r~.!iJ
Round 4: Big Buck GNOC
STORY BY JASON WEIGANDT
PHOTOS BY RAY GUNDY
e
ONION, SC, APRIL 13
t the conclusion of each of the
first three rounds of the 2003
AMA Grand National Cross Country
Series, Team Pro Circuit/Chevy
Trucks/Kawasaki's Fred Andrews
headed back home frustrated over
mistakes that led to poor results, He
left round four feeling bad again, as
fighting through sickness and fatigue
left him absolutely exhausted at the
finish, But the results were much better, This time "Fast" Freddy was a
winner.
"I can't give up," said the Ohio
native in front of a packed crowd at
the GNCC victory podium. "You have
to have heart and determination out
there. I was sick all week coming into
this race, and after , took the lead I
hit the wall. But I wasn't going to give
it up without a fight."
The fight late in the race came
courtesy of Pro-Am Yamaha's Jason
Raines, who put in his best ride of the
young season by charging from midpack to challenge Andrews for the
win in the late going. Raines looked
nearly as strong as he did when he
was leading last year's GNCC points
race, but this time he couldn't find a
way into the lead and was awarded
second place for his efforts.
"That's the thing about Freddy,"
Raines said. "He is really aggressive if
you try and pass him late in the race.
I knew if I was going to do anything,
we would have been banging bars
pretty hard."
Team FMF/Suzuki's Rodney Smith
backed up his win at the previous
round in Morganton, North Carolina,
with a solid second-place finish, and
he was happy.
"I wanted to be up on this podium
today, and I did, so I'm happy," said
the FMF /Suzuki/Dunlop/Moosebacked rider. '" felt good, and my
Suzuki worked great, but I just kept
being in the wrong place at the wrong
time and losing time."
Those three led a big battle at the
Big Buck, which featured a large
pack of contenders dicing hard for
the win for three hours. The win was
in doubt all day, as riders sprinted to
the front and then fell back into the
pack. As the race wore on and the
track got rougher, the Team Pro Circuit/Chevy Trucks/Kawasaki/Team
Green-backed Andrews put together
the right moves at the right time ~o
get the lead and keep it.
KTM's Mike Lafferty might have
had the most spectacular ride of aU.
The five-time AMA National Enduro
Champion crashed hard just three
A
A happy Fred Andrews returned to his
winning ways at the Big Buck ONCC in
South Carolina.
16
APRIL 23, 2003'
cue
•
e
n
e
_
s
